Contributed by Hannah Laniado, MSU graduate student

The other evening I was sitting down with my partner after a long day and we turned on CNN. On the screen in front of me was an image so moving, so honest, so bold that it brought tears to my eyes; thousands of people choosing to use silence in one of the busiest cities of the world as way of peaceful protest. Citizens laid down in the streets of New York with representations of coffins beside them with names of citizens who have lost their lives to the police; primarily young men of color. Three mothers of victims led this movement as it wound through the streets. I was in awe. The next day I was bursting to talk about the social movements that were taking place all over the nation; hardly anyone knew to what I was referring.

The nation is alive with conversations, protests, and community gatherings since the two recent rulings on the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The United Nations office of the Higher Commission for Human Rights publicly expressed concerns about how the U.S. justice system handled these two cases. Local and nationwide newscasts alike are asking questions about these cases and bringing on experts to speak about everything from proper emergency medial procedures, to forensic evidence, to mob mentality. People are all desperately searching for explanations; and in the process some of them are missing the cause- ever present and systemic racism within the United States.

Evidence of racism is everywhere; racism is present when we look at prison populations rates, socio-economic status, infant mortality rates, and community violence rates. Racism is a constant reality for people of color in the United States. What about closer home? What about here in Mankato?

Most people would like to think, "Not in my town". However, as a professional who works with victim's rights I see racism's devastating consequences on families daily. As a sociologist I understand this is not accidental and cannot be narrowed down to people's individual actions. It's a society wide problem that is in the fabric of our society and organizations. As a sociologist I have the tools to empirically examine how racism is affecting our communities and it's prevalence. This semester, I had the opportunity though an Applied Sociology class to do just that.

This semester myself and two other students, Meagan Hammers and C.J. Hays, had the pleasure to work with Ian Bratlie, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, and Dr. Carol Glasser, a professor of sociology at Minnesota State University, Mankato, on a traffic citation study. We analyzed all traffic citations issued between January and June of 2013 in the city of Mankato.

Our findings indicate racial profiling is indeed occurring in Mankato, Minnesota.

Minorities make up roughly 10 percent of the population here in Mankato, however they accounted for 22% of the tickets issued in the city of Mankato during the study's time period. Statistical analysis revealed that, after controlling for factors like age, time of citation, and gender, minorities in the city of Mankato are 2.9 times more likely to receive a ticket citation for an unobservable offense, such as no proof of insurance or out of state driver's license. This implies that police officers are pulling over people of color who have not committed a visible offense; i.e. racially profiling. Best case scenario, this means that once pulled police are taking extra steps with minorities in order to issue citations. Clearly, systemic racial injustice is manifesting itself in the over-policing of minorities in Mankato.

Here is where I hope everyone is thinking, "What can we do about this?". The answer isn't easy, and it's a community effort. We need to begin by taking interest in racial injustice and how we may be participating in it; either passively or actively. We need to vote for officials who are well versed on these issues and understand their devastating long-term consequences; such as the fact that racial profiling leads to higher criminal records for people of color which in turn leads to fewer employment opportunities. We need to challenge organizations with practices that deny access to people of color. And we need to care. We need to care enough to talk about this, make it a dinner conversation, challenge ourselves, our loved ones, and our community. The only way we can work towards equality is by doing the work and taking personal responsibility for our role in racism's survival. In other words, show some love. If you feel that this is hardly the battle cry you were looking for, I will leave you with the words of bell hooks, "The greatest movement for social justice our country has ever known is the civil rights movement and it was rooted in a love ethic."